Power BI KPIs – The handy list for any business
Every business needs to measure its progress, and KPIs or Key Performance Indicators help you to do so successfully. By implementing the Power BI KPI, you get visual cues, which communicate the business’s progress rate towards the target.
These at-a-glance metrics help you to promptly know how effectively your company is accomplishing its vital business objectives. To effectively utilize Power BI KPIs, we first need to understand what KPIs are and the different types.
What are KPIs?
KPIs are management tools used by companies to measure each process’s performance to ultimately manage them with effectiveness and efficacy.
As said by the renowned writer, teacher, and Austrian management consultant, Peter Ferdinand Drucker, “What is not measured cannot be managed.”
What does that imply?
You have different service lines with multiple objectives in an organization. When clubbed together they take you towards your business goals. For long-run success, it’s important to have defined and measurable goals. Only then can you build strategies to have a competitive edge.
Why use Power BI KPIs?
By now, it must be clear that KPIs answer the two vital questions:
- Where is my business currently?
- How much ahead or behind, I am from my goal?
The dynamic and interactive Power BI KPI graphs will answer these two questions instantly and help you optimize your ROI.
The Crucial KPIs for Business Strategy
The Key Performance Indicators may vary from business to business. For instance, a constructor’s key indicators will not be the same as a distributor’s. Similarly, companies can have diverse KPIs depending on the goals and metrics.
Also find out: How and what is Power BI used for in any business?
Here we have shared some of the KPIs that are standard in most industries and sectors.
Financial KPIs
Financial KPIs like revenue growth, cash activity, accounts receivable and payable, P&L statement, etc., are vital for measuring an organization’s financial health.
Let’s take the example of revenue – it is the lifeline of any business. A business needs to track sales over a period and compare it with the expenses.
The financial reporting matrix by Profitbase visual in Power BI (watch the above video) makes financial reporting a lot more convenient. Using this comprehensive report, you can determine if you need to cut any expenses, increase the prices, or search for better prospects.
Operational KPIs
Measuring KPIs like your labor’s productivity, job completion status, order status, working capital, etc., helps to understand a company’s overall position.
Using the hierarchical bar chart (watch the above video), you can easily understand the current status of all jobs-at-hand. Thus, one look and you have a complete overview of operational data.
Marketing KPIs
ROI, cost-per-lead, total conversions, and the share of new and existing customers are key indicators to measure marketing strategy. Diversifying the client base is considered a safe bet.
So, by studying your market and customers’ behavior, you will know where to invest more. In turn, it also helps you to maximize revenue. It channelizes your marketing strategy and diversifies your client portfolio.
Human Resource KPIs
The human resource of an organization contributes magnificently towards its goal. Some critical HR performance indicators are attrition rate, average salary, headcount, FTEs count and cost, staffing efficiency, retention cost, etc.
Assessing work hours against the performance of employees helps in SLA determination and work-hours required for job completion. It gives an idea if overtime is paid for no extra work. Or finds out the high-performers and encourages them to increase productivity.
Large organizations use them to measure the performance of individual departments.
Tabular overview of KPIs and the aptest Power BI visuals for them
| Service Line | KPIs | Power BI KPI visual | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | Sales | Zebra BI Tables | With adjustable tables, it’s one of the best charts to be used for financial dashboards. Calculate Top ‘n’ analysis and get calculations with subtotals. Enjoy all the features of Zebra BI Tables with Power BI Pro. |
| Revenue growth | Financial Reporting Matrix by Profitbase | With powerful formula, conditional formatting, Cross Filtering, and Pivoting, this report will change the face of your financial dashboard. Tracking your revenue growth has never been easier. Enjoy all the features with Power BI Premium. | |
| Operations | Order status | Multi KPI Custom visuals | Particularly in the retail sector, tracking the order status and channelizing supply accordingly is vital. With Sparklings and trend analysis, this Power BI KPI visual can help you track your order status correctly. |
| Job status | Hierarchical Bar Chart | A robust bar chart where you can drill down up to any level. You can also check the variance between the two tasks. Use color code to separate the current status from the target and do much more for your critical operational KPI analysis. | |
| Marketing | Cost per lead | KPI Grid by MAQ Software | Using distinct shapes and colors, highlight your cost-per-lead trend. Display key data in hierarchical order and perform quick comparisons on your marketing dashboard. |
| New vs Returning customers | Marimekko chart by xViz | Know the share of your new and existing customers of specific regions. You can also toggle between visuals and see the tabular form of data. Marimekko chart xViz will change the way of reporting and enhance your marketing strategies. | |
| Human Resource | Attrition rate | SMART KPI list | Add a bandwidth of acceptable limit, and highlight the parameters that need immediate actions. Set a target and get a comprehensive visual of your HR KPIs. Also, drill down to know the reasons behind attrition rates. |
| Headcount | Control chart XmR | A headcount dashboard contains most of the significant HR indicators. With the Control Chart XmR, you can understand if your process is under control or not. You can also find out the outliers and their variance from the target line. |
Implement Power BI KPIs for enhanced decision making
Microsoft Power BI has more than 25 charts specifically designed for measuring KPIs. While you’ll get the traditional Gauge chart on your Power BI desktop, the rest you’ll find in the Power BI Marketplace.
Like any other “Power app”, these charts can help you communicate using spectacular colors and symbols. The visuals are very interactive and can hold on to your readers’ attention for a longer span.
Also read: The 6 business benefits of Power BI for your business
Some of the significant advantages of using Power BI KPIs are as follows:
Compiled report
Power BI makes reporting of KPI and comparing the same very convenient. You can import data from different sources, including social media platforms, DBMS, and flat files, for your analysis.
For instance, if you want to check your current digital marketing strategy’s performance, you will need different online reports. Data from your website, online advertisements, and social media channels will help you analyze the viewers’ actions.
The Power KPI Matrix is a robust Power BI graph to show multiple metrics and KPIs in one customized list.
Interactive dashboards
Features like Slicers and Visual Zoom Sliders make it easy for the decision-makers to focus on a specific period’s performance.
You can also filter out the necessary parameters and zoom on the period that stands with a few clicks.
So, with Power BI, you can see the real-time performance of your key factors and also get to interact with them according to your requirement.
Convenient monthly reporting
Power BI’s interactive charts make monthly reporting easier for both the reporting team and the viewers.
In fact, developing quarterly/yearly reports and comparing them also becomes pretty convenient.
Using the Power KPIs multiple line graphs, you can check out the trend and forecast line along with other comparisons.
Discovering outliers
Outliers in business can cause critical problems because they tend to misconstrue the analysis. So, it’s crucial to find out the outliers and determine the root cause behind these.
Power BI has many features like Drillthrough and Anomaly Detection (preview). These help you find out these few indicators causing significant variance.
Finally, we can say
Measurement of KPIs is necessary for any business – be it small or big. And if you want to reach your goals via the most optimized path, use the Power BI KPIs efficiently and correctly. Making prompt and accurate decisions will surely benefit you in the long run.
And if you are on the lookout for a Power BI consulting partner to help organize and optimize your data insights then contact our team.
